


A Vision Softly Creeping

by earthlinglia



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Howard Stark's Bad Parenting, Human/Vampire Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Magic, Nightmares, Sequel, Tony Stark Cuddles, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Vampire Loki (Marvel), Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-14 23:13:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21023810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earthlinglia/pseuds/earthlinglia
Summary: One week after being rescued from Stark Manor, Tony still has nightmares. He gets cuddles. Obviously. (Sequel to Creature of the Night by STARSdidathing)





	A Vision Softly Creeping

**Author's Note:**

  * For [STARSdidathing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/gifts), [Rouko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rouko/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Creature of the Night](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20985530) by [STARSdidathing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/pseuds/STARSdidathing). 

> Hello darkness, my old friend...
> 
> Yeah yeah yeah, the title is from Sound of Silence. It's a great song. Fight me.
> 
> Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted anything! I've been super busy with college and work and stuff. Hopefully as I settle into my new routine, I'll be able to write some more. I've missed it!
> 
> This fic is a sequel to "Creature of the Night," written by the amazing STARSdidathing. If you haven't read the entire collected works of STARSdidathing, you should at least start making a dent in them because they are absolutely fantastic. Stars and I are friends via the Frostiron discord server, where it has been declared that my name (Lia) is secretly an acronym for Lives In Angstville. (Shoutout to [buying_the_space_farm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/buying_the_space_farm) for coining that one). In accordance with that moniker, this one is a little bit angsty, but there is plenty of soft fluffiness at the end.
> 
> Also wanna give a huge shoutout to [Rouko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rouko), also in the FI server, for betareading this guy. I've been so out of practice writing lately so the look-over was a huge help.
> 
> Alright, I've rambled on enough. Enjoy the fic!

_ He is pulled through a hallway decorated with ornate carvings and dusty paintings kicking and screaming, trying to break free, but the grip around his wrist is made of iron. _

_ “You thought you could run off with another man—a _ ** _vampire_ ** _ , no less—and succeed? You thought you could escape _ ** _me_**_?” _

_ The voice is grating against his ear; his head feels as though it is exploding and imploding at once. Sores break out across his feet as they drag across the carpet. _

_ Hands all but throw him into a room. He staggers forward and catches himself on a piece of furniture. He recognizes these walls, and it makes him sick to his stomach. Had his inventions been there, his books, his former solaces, perhaps his old bedroom would be palatable. But they are gone, and the room is everything an aristocrat’s bedroom apparently _ ** _should _ ** _ be, empty and gaudy and deafening and dull. _

_ Before he can so much as fully take in his painfully familiar surroundings, a hand grips his chin, and _ ** _oh, _ ** _ he knows that feeling, but usually it’s accompanied by bright green eyes and a smile and a flash of love. His head is yanked to the side, and all he sees are brown eyes and cruelty and _ ** _wrong wrong wrong_**_— _

_ A fist crashes against his cheek. He knows that a bruise is surely welling up, but it’s such a familiar sensation that he barely feels it. By now, the only pain he feels is emotional, the sense that it had been so long since the last beating that he had dared to hope that it may never happen again but had hoped in vain. _

_ “You’re back where you belong now, and you’re never going to leave. I’ll prove it to you. Look.” _

_ This time, he is shoved against the giant window, the one that for five glorious months meant freedom and hope. Now it only feels like a prison once more, and he is forced to stare down at a giant stake in the shape of a cross. _

_ “No,” he begs, unable to look away. “Don’t. Please. I’ll do whatever you want, just—” _

_ A dark, malevolent chuckle fills his ear. “Oh, you _ ** _will_ ** _ do whatever I want. But it won’t save him. Nothing will. You’re too late.” _

_ Two guards rotate the silver stake around to face the window. From below, he can see pleading green eyes look up to him. They flicker red and back to green but they become no less terrified, no less helpless. He tries to break the window, but iron hands grip his wrists once more. He is forced to press his hand against the window in a display of futility and surrender as a third guard walks into view, carrying a goblet— _

_ “No!” _

Tony’s eyes flew open and he sat straight up in bed, woken up by his own screaming. His gaze desperately darted around the room, searching for a sign of where he was. It felt like hours before he finally spotted the faint glow of his newest invention, a device meant to store power. His star, Loki called it. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he looked around once more and was able to take in the other features of the room. His room. His room in Loki’s castle.

For a moment, he thought he might almost calm down. His breathing slowed; his heart seemed not to pound so thunderously in his chest—

—and then images from his nightmare flooded his mind and he burst into tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Loki had been reading a book in his bedroom when he heard the scream.

It had been a week—an absolutely _ incredible _ week—since he had rescued Anthony from that despicable manor and brought him to his castle. The first night, Anthony had stayed in his room, thoroughly exhausted after a rather _ passionate _ celebration of their engagement, but the next morning, Loki moved all of Anthony’s things into a separate room so he could have a space for his books and brilliant inventions, and Anthony had taken to sleeping there. He claimed that he liked to work late into the night and preferred to just crash on the nearest available bed, but Loki suspected that as much as his mortal adored him, he still needed time and space to adjust to the prospects of eternity with a vampire, and Loki was more than willing to grant him that.

Loki also suspected that his lover was having nightmares, but Anthony didn’t mention them. Loki had a feeling that discussions of such frivolous matters as emotions were strictly forbidden in Stark Manor, especially considering that the head of that house was all too likely the source of any fears within it.

So he was patient, and didn’t press the matter. Or, at least, he hadn’t. The scream, however, made it impossible for him to ignore the situation. Putting his book to the side, he got up from his bed and opened his bedroom door.

Almost immediately, he could hear sobbing from down the hall. Loki had never been more thankful that he had forgotten to magically soundproof Anthony’s room the previous day. It took incredible discipline, but he managed to walk down the hall as opposed to run, and when he reached the door, he was just able to hold back his impulse to throw it open.

The room was pitch black but for the faint shine of the device Anthony had been working on since he had arrived, but Loki was easily able to see in it, his vampiric senses only more powerful in darkness. Anthony lay on his side, his face buried into a pillow. His body shook violently as he let out large, heaving sobs. He didn’t even seem to notice that Loki had entered.

Loki pointed at the candle on Anthony’s nightstand, causing it to light. It glowed brighter than a normal candle would, and within moments, the entire room was gently illuminated by the magically lit flame. It was only then, when the room was no longer dark as it had been before, that Anthony pulled away from the pillow and looked up.

“Loki?” he asked tentatively. “Did—did I wake you up?”

Loki crossed the room and sat down on the bed facing his lover. He brushed a hand over Anthony’s cheek. “No, I was already awake. But that hardly matters. What happened?”

Anthony’s eyes flitted downward. “I had a nightmare,” he admitted quietly.

“Would you like to talk about it?” Loki asked. “I am happy to listen.”

“It’s stupid.”

“I’m sure it is not.” Loki laid himself down and kissed Anthony’s forehead. “Go on, my darling. I promise you, there is nothing you could say that I would find stupid.”

“I was back at Stark Manor, and Howard was dragging me through the hall,” Anthony began. “He was dragging me and he shoved me into my room and he hit me again but then he shoved me against the window and—and there was a cross out in the courtyard and I was just _ watching _ and I couldn’t do anything and he was laughing at me, and then—” Anthony broke off, tears filling his eyes. “I was begging him to stop, I was, I told him I’d do anything and he just laughed at me, and the guards turned it around and you were there and you were so _ scared, _and you kept looking up at me and there was nothing I could do, and it was all my fault and there was another guard there and he had holy water and I was about to lose you—”

As Anthony continued and became more and more hysterical, all Loki could think about was how quickly he had glossed over his own abuse. He had spent all but ten seconds describing what that _ disgusting, _ pathetic excuse for a man had done to him before falling into complete disarray over the prospect of _ Loki _being harmed.

“It is alright, sweet one,” Loki soothed, wrapping Anthony in his arms, trying to ignore how his heart shattered in his chest as the mortal collapsed against him. “It is alright. You are safe now. We both are. No one can find us here.”

“I know,” Anthony sobbed; “that’s why it’s so stupid; it’s so _ irrational _—”

“—You are the most brilliant man I have ever met,” Loki interrupted, “but fear is never rational. There is nothing _ stupid _ about this, Anthony. I promise.” 

“But I know he can’t get here; I know you have magic—”

“And since when have you, my clever man of science, ever fully trusted magic?” Loki asked. Anthony opened his mouth in protest, but Loki pressed a finger to his lips. “Shhh. Your fear is perfectly natural considering the wounds that man has inflicted upon you. I would not be surprised in the least if you have had such a dream before.”

Anthony mumbled something which sounded suspiciously like _ every night. _An anchor attached itself to Loki’s heart and dragged it into an ocean of despair. His poor darling…

“Tell me these things in the future, my sweet,” he said softly. “If you do not think I would come to your aid any time you asked, for any reason, I have failed as a lover.”

“I—I didn’t want to bother you,” Anthony replied shakily. “Surely you have better things to do…”

Loki placed a finger under Anthony’s chin and gently lifted his head. Anthony’s eyes flitted away once more.

“Anthony, look at me,” said Loki. It took a few moments, but eventually Anthony looked up again. “You are the most important thing in my life. There is nothing I would rather do than take care of you and nowhere I would rather be than at your side. You would never, _ ever _be a bother by coming to me.”

Anthony’s breath caught in his chest and tears streamed down his face. His eyes seemed confused, lost, overwhelmed, as if he had never heard such words before, and Loki realized that it was all too likely that he hadn’t.

“Come here, Anthony,” Loki said gently. “Let me hold you and show you how much you mean to me, how precious you are. How much I treasure you. How much I love you.”

Anthony trembled, but he did not come any closer. Loki cupped his cheek. “You are safe. You can let go. I promise I will catch you.”

There was silence for a few moments. Anthony blinked once, twice, and then he burst into tears once more, all but flinging himself into Loki’s arms. Loki could tell that this time, he was sobbing from anguish but also relief. He pulled Anthony closer and stroked his hair, murmuring sweet nothings into his ear. Tears wet his shirt, but he barely noticed it. All that mattered was the man in his arms and _ proving _to him that he was completely, utterly adored.

They laid there for well over an hour. Anthony went through cycles, crying hysterically for a few minutes before calming down, and then bursting into tears again. Loki, however, remained constant, his hand never moving from Anthony’s hair. Every now and again, he whispered another loving sentiment in his mortal’s ear or pressed a kiss to his forehead.

Eventually, Anthony stopped crying, and he looked up at Loki. His eyes were red with tears and heavy with exhaustion and all Loki could think was that he was beautiful.

Carefully, Loki tugged them both into a sitting position. He conjured a cup of water and held it to Anthony’s lips. “Drink this.”

As Anthony drank the water, his breathing started to settle properly. He drained the glass within a few moments.

“Would you like more?” Loki asked. Anthony shook his head. “In that case, you need to sleep, my darling.”

Anthony tensed at that and let out a whimper. “I’m scared. Don’t want to have that dream again.”

“I know, my love, but you are clearly exhausted. Would it help if I stayed with you.”

Anthony nodded. “Your room?”

Loki’s heart skipped a beat. “You would stay in my room?” he asked. “My bed has always been open to you, but I assumed you preferred it here. But if my room is what you desire…” Anthony nodded again. Loki smiled and, with a snap of his fingers, they were in his room, curled up under his green and gold comforter. Anthony blinked at the sudden change, but then he looked up at Loki with a face Loki couldn’t place. “What is it, sweet one?”

“That thing you did, when you brought me here… that was the best I’ve ever slept in my life.”

Loki couldn’t help but smile. “Would you like me to do that again? I promise you will not be unconscious for so long this time.”

“Would you?” Anthony asked. “Besides how long I was asleep, it was incredible.”

“Anything for you, my darling.” Loki cupped Anthony’s cheek and leaned down for a kiss. He kept it gentle, nothing like the frantic way he had kissed Anthony back at Stark Manor, and called his magic forward, directing it to flow through Anthony’s mind and body. When they pulled apart, he watched how Anthony’s breathing slowed and his eyes fluttered shut. He pressed one more kiss to Anthony’s forehead, weaving one more piece of magic around him to ensure that his mind wouldn’t so much as approach the dark place from whence his earlier nightmare had come.

He was close, Loki could tell, just moments away from drifting off into a deep, dreamless sleep. He mumbled something that might have been Loki’s name.

“Shhh,” Loki whispered, brushing his fingers across Anthony’s temple. “I have you. Just sleep.”

His words were enough to push Anthony over the brink, his body going completely limp. Loki smiled again, gazing down at him with pure adoration in his eyes.

“Rest well, sweet Anthony,” he murmured, and at last, he allowed his own eyes to close.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

When Tony woke, it was to the feeling of long fingers carding through his hair. His eyes blinked open and were met with bright green ones, watching him with a soft, tender expression.

“Good morning,” said Loki. His voice was rough with sleep, but nevertheless calm and loving. “Did you sleep well?”

Tony nodded and curled closer to Loki. Loki’s arms enveloped him, surrounding him in warmth. “Wait. Aren’t vampires supposed to be cold?”

A low chuckle from above him filled his ears. “Yes, my sweet, usually we are. I enchanted myself to be warmer so you would be more comfortable.”

“Oh. Thanks.”

Loki kissed his temple. “Of course. Anything for you.”

They laid there in silence for a few minutes, and then Tony looked up. “Okay, question.”

“Yes?”

“How does it work? The thing you did, the thing that put me to sleep. How does magic work? How do you get it? I want to think it isn’t real, but clearly it is, but how does it work? I just have so many questions—”

“Clearly you do, my curious mortal.” Loki sat up a little and gently tugged Tony to sit up with him. “You speak of light and sound as being forms of energy. Magic is the same way. It is a form of energy which mages can manipulate to their will. It has limitless potential and can be used for good or ill. In this case, I directed that energy towards you and used it to put you to sleep.”

“So how do you get magic?”

“One does not _ get _magic,” Loki explained. “Magic exists everywhere, just like light and sound. A mage simply has the ability to access that energy and channel it how they wish.”

“And how do you get that ability?”

“Most immortal beings are mages. The greatest barrier to being able to access magic is being bound to time, and we are not. However,” Loki continued, “some mortals can become mages, either through great study or through association with an immortal. After I bind you to myself, you may be able to perform magic as well.”

“And you can just use it to do anything?”

“Nearly everything, yes,” Loki replied. “Some applications of magic are more difficult than others. Certainly, I am not the most powerful mage in existence. There is plenty more that I have to learn.”

“What do you want to learn next?” Tony asked.

“Admittedly, my method of making you my consort is not the most elegant,” said Loki. “It is functional, but there is a better way of doing it. I am currently studying that superior method.”

“Only the best for me,” Tony teased. “You spoil me, Loki.”

“You jest, but you are entirely correct,” Loki said earnestly. “I would give you nothing but the best, my darling.”

“You spoil me,” Tony said again. “You’ll ruin me for anyone else.”

“Then it is a good thing that no one else shall have you.” Loki brushed his hand across Tony’s cheek. “You are _ mine, _after all.”

“I am yours,” Tony agreed, leaning into the touch. “And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @hyperchaoticstarlight and @marvel-at-these-gays.


End file.
